Mattel apologizes to CHINA? WTF?!?!?!

[CurtEastPoint]

BEIJING (AP) -- U.S.-based toy giant Mattel Inc. issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, taking the blame for design flaws and saying it had recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified.

The gesture by Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, at which Li upbraided the company for maintaining weak safety controls.

"Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls," Debrowski told Li in a meeting at Li's office at which reporters were allowed to be present.

"And Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," Debrowski said.

[redqueen]

1. How is recalling lead-tainted toys unjustified?

:wtf:

[Robbien]

2. It has to. China is pissed. Mattel would have no source for toy manufacturing

and if they had to spend money setting up shop in any other country, shareholders' profits would suffer. Can't have that.

[Deja Q]

6. Well, sometimes businesses have to take hits.

And not pass them along to their consumers, who work very hard for their money.

[Robbien]

11. One would think that is the way things should work, wouldn't one?

But it doesn't, thus Mattel is bending over for China.

[Vilis Veritas]

13. Thailand.

That is where the first round of Cars toys were made. They did not have lead in the paint, higher quality, higher wholesale price.

Peace.

[Robbien]

18. Yeah, but there's those pesky expansion costs

which would eat into shareholders' profits. Ownership society rules, donchaknow?

[Vilis Veritas]

19. Absolutely. Mattel also got a sweet deal on the transition.

Use Thailand to create good products on limited runs. Then switch to China for the large runs. If you don't switch, China still produces the toys and sells them Black Market and your prices have to drop and you lose big time. Old game in which China is a master.

Peace.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

17. Like Mexico

has quit making our plastic crap?

I'm sure that there are other means of having really annoying, plastic-ee toys made without using China's child labor.

Just saying.

[Deja Q]

3. A major non-sequitur. Two, actually.

How many toys were recalled, and how many were found to be greater than tolerable?

And how do they mean by "design flaws" - does that mean Mattel told the Chinese to use lead paint?!

Mattel damaged its reputation, but China was probably not innocent either.

[TahitiNut]

4. Who'd like to look up Debrowski's executive compensation for the last fiscal year?

Want to bet it's over $1M?? When they go for "cheap" they sure don't include their own compensation.

[Snotcicles]

5. There is nothing that Mattel makes or sells that my family needs, or ever will need. nt

[emilyg]

10. Yes - nothing.

[Deja Q]

7. Silly time to ask, but do you have a link?

[Robbien]

21. Ha HypnoToad. Didn't even notice

cause after reading a LBN thread on the same issue
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3000227&mesg_id=3000227

there was no doubt this was a true article.

[Cleita]

8. A new chapter is being written in Bizarro World.

When I think it can't get any crazier, it does.

[napi21]

9. I can tell you that Matel SHOULD HAVE submitted detailed

specifications to the Cina manufacturers. If Matel was dumb enough NOT to specify the paint to be used, they it IS their fault!

I worked in a mfg. environment for 6 years, and I read a lot of bid requests. IF something is NOT on included in the spec, and the product you make conforms to the spec, you (the mfg.) are NOT responsible.

[Shakespeare]

12. It's a cultural thing, and a VERY important one in China.

If you knew much about China, you wouldn't even have to ask why. It's all about saving face/losing face, and they take it very, very, very seriously. It's the exact same reason Bush had to apologize following the spy plane incident in 2001.

[knight_of_the_star]

14. Doesn't matter

In the case of the spy plane thing we did have egg on our face for that because we were partially responsible and an apology was merited. In this case China passed off goods that they knew were unsafe and did not meet US standards. Mattel should be apologizing FIRST to the people they sold these to, NOT to the people who handed this off to them.

[Shakespeare]

15. It does matter.

If you don't understand the cultural significance behind Mattel's actions, perhaps you should learn a bit more about China. You don't have to like it, but you might at least understand why they did it. This has NOTHING to do with what Mattel may owe to its own consumers in the U.S.

[knight_of_the_star]

25. I do understand why they did it

And what is involved in the culture. That still does not make it right that they do not apologize to those who were the real injured party.

[nini]

16. Have they apologized to their laid off employees who used to build the toys?

assholes.

[Cleita]

20. Excellent point.

Also, on the news they said China manufactured 65% of Mattel's product. I don't know who does the other 35% but I don't think much of it is done in America. This is at the core of our problem here. We need laws that state that in order for a manufacturing company to call themselves an American company and become incorporated here, they need to manufacture at least 60% of their product here. If they can't do that or prefer to be incorporated in a foreign country, then they need to be considered a foreign company bringing their imports here. In order to to that they must pay excise taxes before they can sell their product In the USA. The excise tax should be enough to make American made products competitive with the imports.

This is the way it used to be. Domestically made products were sold first. Imports basically were for things we didn't manufacture or that we didn't manufacture as well, like German tools for instance before the rise of Hitler. They were very well made and Americans were willing to pay extra for finely crafted tools. It was the same for Swiss watches. We made our own brands that were cheaper but if we wanted a really finely crafted watch or clock we were willing to pay extra for the Swiss import. It didn't hurt our domestic product though, like Bulova that at the time was made here for more mass consumption.

[Swamp Rat]

22. This reminds me of the idiot who apologized to Cheney for being shot in the face by him.

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[truebrit71]

23. Looks like Mattel figured out who the "new boss" is going to be this century..

...as America slips more and more into the consumerist service-based economy, the countries that actually build stuff continue to bolster their economic power.

As the US based manufacturing base continues to be exported, so the US economic "might" whithers on the vine...

By the middle of this century, and DEFINITELY by the beginning of the next century, China will be the number one economic (and quite possibly military) superpower on the planet.

(That of course assumes that chucklenuts in the WH doesn't trigger Armageddon in the next 15 months...)

[parkia00]

24. You Quote Only Half of the Story...

Where did you get it? Here's a Yahoo news link that tells more of this news story instead of only sections that simply give a distorted view.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/ts_nm/china_safety_mattel_dc


Amongst items of note are:

"The world's largest toy maker, Mattel Inc, apologized on Friday for damaging China's reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch."

"But it's important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers."

"The follow-up inspections also confirmed that part of the recalled toys complied with the U.S. standards,"